Simple War
Simple War aims to simplify traditional Grand Strategy with some greater influence of mechanics from genres such as RTS's and RPG's. Diverting the focus from being a number-heavy overload. Although the strategy aspect is important it is delivered in different ways: Simple War shifts the focus more onto the World around Battles bringing in landscapes, cities, people, soldiers, and resources. The effort is to make a game where every battle has it's own unique story, and forming lore as the world develops. Rumors * "rumors have revealed that an enemy has refounded a lost city." * "rumors have revealed that an enemy has expanded a city." * "rumors have revealed that an enemy has conquered the Original capital of caste, name." TRAITS * Units have a very small chance to develop a trait from performing an action, all of these are often extremely valuable, and will only affect a singular unit. * Tactician - Grants secret event potential during planning stages. * Foraged Swords. MUSIC * at the start of the game you choose an intro melody for your leader, this will become the Caste theme, all additional leaders (belonging to you) intros will be a mix of that original melody and share elements. * music will get deeper as time goes on having more elements added to it you may miss at first, music will get darker or lighter depending on how you play. * the world has different musical themes for provinces which are mixed depending on which Caste controls them, or what two main castes are fighting for it. Cinematics * Whenever you encounter a famous lord on the battlefield, you will get a cinematic where they will give you dialogue hinting towards their agenda. * whenever that lord dies or retreats, you will also get cinematics detailing whether they died or escaped. * Throughout the battles, specific events will either help or hinder your movement or cause. The key to events is to react appropriately. Some of them happen when you reach a particular location in the game, others are timed. Whenever an event happens, you will receive a cinematic letting you know what's happening. * Location cinematics occur when troops or certain warriors reach a particular point. an enemy general can do damage to your plans if he reaches a particular point, make sure to stop him before he gets there. Some location events will help you, though many of them won't. THOUGHTS: * if anything is so complex that it needs an advisor to explain it, it should be redesigned or not even put into the game, the user should be able to be thrown in to explore. * purposefully smaller designed and thematic maps with deliberate design to concentrate fun. * caste stories are emergent, as time progresses more points will be added to the stories of the castes. * trade out healthbars, they're way too gamey. instead use visual changes showing enemies are lower in health. don't take the easy way out. * sometimes you will discover items or be able to restore buildings before you have the technology to built it from scratch. UTILITY: * Black and White 2 style mouse/army control outside of combat. * PLOT: * Several different novices have appeared on an abandoned world. They are almost like cavemen in regards to technology, but can learn and progress faster when they advance more. * They all have different goals in mind for their leadership and are at immediate conflict with eachother * They must rediscover old technolgies and grow these new landmasses. * the land of Mar is barren, but also full of forgotten power. * Near the middle of the game, an unrevealed foe will randomly attack you during the next large battle you have, destroying all units from both factions, before establishing themselves. * If a faction concedes to another, the victor can choose an adaptation which will permanently change their faction music, colours and units (blue (victor) + green (defeated) = cyan (combined)) WORLD: * Most terrain is desert and plains, to keep things simple. * The world is in real time there is no round-based combat. * It isn't randomly generated, there is one static map that's purposeful. * scattered resources like Civ provide unique benefits. * Map starts with few ruined cities which can be restored. * mines like black and white 2, can run out of resources, can spawn monsters. * quests like black and white 2. * trees like black and white 2. * hidden quests, do something, get rewarded later. * locations can exist on the map, holding locations can reveal temporary or more-permanent advantages, things like legendary equipment for your Leader, very powerful weaponry, or faction-wide production or armouring of incredibly high-tier weaponry or gear. * there are some simple world bosses that do their own thing, they are pretty challenging to fight, massive reward for destroying them though, they tend to be static events with long-lasting effects on the surrounding areas. * It is also possible to pick up a racial trait, such as regression, where all buildings cost less, are much weaker, and all units are weaker, but stronger, and can even grow in power the more units they kill. The opposite power of progression makes everything cost more, and be more defensive, but have more attack. * Resources are often unique, although some may be more common than others, such as clay, some are incredibly rare, like copper. * Some resources, in addition to rarity can also have purity, impure copper is valuable, but not nearly as profitable as a purer source. * one general will always be elected with the Pursue trait, making them godlike and impossible to kill. * The formation of some businesses relies on several factors, knowledge and resources, knowledge in itself is a form of resource that can be collected from precursor locations, which can unlock technologies. * it is unlikely if a technology is discovered by one Caste, that that same technology will be discovered by a second faction in the same game, leading to unique games. * COMBAT: COMBAT * Third person combat where you control your Master, many units fighting eachother, there will be several generals on the battlefield. It isn't wise to rush in and die, rather take out enemies that are isolated. * Each individual unit grants you additional Morale, Morale takes into account your units including their gear, their fame among other things, although you only need to care about morale, your Morale will be weighed up with the enemies. If you lose units your Morale drops, if you dispatch units your Morale rises, losing morale can have several negative effects, such as increasing the chance of defection or resignation of your generals. * The typical battle is usually between 10-160 units, scarcely scattered but organised, the player can see within a limited fog of war their units cover, and in locations they have set up prior to battle, they command their commander, if their commander dies in combat, the game doesn't end, it simply continues. * battlefields are large and usually in mountainous or defensive gorges or valleys, large enough that conflicts are happening off-screen and take some time to pass or to travel towards, in which time negative things could happen, such as a general dying, a battle can last anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes. * generals can defect or even resign during combat, taking portions of soldiers with them. * there are certain battle-specific roles, such as setting all buildings on fire, sealing off bridges preventing exits, fleeing the battlefield to preserve key units and delivering key items to key places, all of these actions will have unique cutscenes and consequences on the battle. you can also make some generals target other key generals. * there are certain secrets on the battlefield to be discovered which can shift/turn the battle against you. * you may only have full control over your main unit, all other units are AI controlled, although will listen to your battle strategy. * you may lose equipment whilst in combat, additionally, enemies can pick up equipment and keep it permanently, some equipment may even be available on the battle-field before the battle even begins, such as rusty swords or daggers, sometimes more than that. * For every famous warrior you dispatch, your personal fame rises. * before a battle you will not know what enemies are armoured with, or how strong they are, or even how many men they actually have. * units will lay down weaponry, take off armaments whilst resting, and may suffer from other effects such as tiredness or being drunk. * People who kill or help kill memorable lords will themselves become memorable lords similar to shadow of mordor, in addition weapons and armors used frequently by npcs grow in reputation. * Most arenas are much smaller than Total War arenas. * combat is quick. COMBAT EVENTS * There are certain things you or your enemy can do during or before a battle, these will usually trigger cutscenes. * Castes can master wind, which can cause gusts that make some pathways unpassable until the summoner is killed. * Can set up rockslides, or trigger rockslides in areas with natural ones, causing major injury to passers below * Can set up archers at unreachable locations prior to a battle if certain vantage points exist. * Units can lose things such as eyes or even arms in combat. * Can establish supply depots before a battle, this speeds up actions. * can Burn enemy Supply Depots * Can summon Reinforcements if units are actually available nearby. * Can select one unit to be a sole defender of a location, such as a birdge or doorway, allowing others to escape. * Some actions are "setup" actions which you get cutscenes for, however, have no immediate effect. such as Summoning South-East Winds which then enables setting Fire to ships * Tactical retreating from combat of important generals is also a cutscene event, as you may wish to catch them before they leave. * Ambushing is also an option, where generals can appear as if from nowhere causing major damage. * generals and units can die of old age, wounds and illness in combat. * npcs are only protected from blows as far as their armor covers, a naked npc will take great damage. PROGRESSION: * map starts with neutrals novices who randomly spawn with no resources like in an RTS. * warcraft 3 style quests. * At the beginning, all novices are basic and have no difference between one-another, novices can be eliminated and never become leaders, a maximum of 16 novices at a time will spawn. * static story and quests will appear over time. * when a major world event happens, it will be highlighted. * you will advance spheres as a caste. you will be able to select a leader (from two candidates) , and begin a new sphere. These two leaders will be from your own towns or armies, each leader will offer some unique leadership benefits and will research certain things during their leadership. a good example would be: "Advance through the Teachings of Mylast: all trees produce more fruit OR Advance through the Strife of Forogan: Begin construction of the Stone Tower * story is similar to age of mythology style progression. * must find neutral novices, and recruit them, often at early stages of the game, they could be simply gathering berries or engaged in combat with wildlife or leaders. * future success depends on finding novices which can repopulate. * five or more novices constitutes a Guild, ten or more constitutes a Chapter, twenty or more and one city can form a Caste, Castes can grow to have up to 40 neutral and 40 warrior novices, it is likely that the player won't reach this cap, castes can form inside other castes cities if not stomped out. LEADERS: * Start with a single novice like in Mount and Blade. * have abilities they can learn, and can upgrade through gear, rewarded from quests. can use these to for example heal individual units. these abilities usually have cooldowns and require resources. * have a six slot inventory where they can pick up and store items. * When two novices decide to ally, they must elect a leader, and by default, the player assumes the role of leader. * if a leader defeats another leader the conquerer gets to decide the fate of the conquered, this can be execution, forced alliance, freedom or their own decision, if they decide to enter a free alliance then they proclaim the conquerer as the new leader, and cease to be a leader, at least for a while. * There will usually be several enemy Leaders , which can produce additional Leaders . * Leaders can attack eachother or ally. * Leaders can declare war, or form alliances between Castes. * Leaders can be customized as if they were RPG characters. * Can execute Leaders to stop them reforming and re-attacking. * as a leader you do not know of your enemies subordinates, or alliances. gathering this information requires interrogation of units after battles. * can hold Leaders for ransom, or inprison Leaders. * if all leaders die, a caste will become leaderless, this stagnates a caste until a lord appears to lead it, or reclaim it. the players leader cannot die. * emerging leaders like in mount and blade, clear, distincitve sages. * sons can kill their own father generals. * Leaders don't come from just anywhere, they grow from novices, every novice could grow into a Leader. Campaign * foreshadowing Map * the map wants you to try and break it and get the better of it. like cutting down 50 trees to get to a hidden area or finding the weakspot in a massive wall of impassible rocks, the game wants you to do this. * exchanging items between heroes is a really good way to break the game and actually can lead to some awesome secrets. NOVICES: * novices often start with no equipment and no history, and are basic. family history can impact certain factors, but most novices will be blank canvases with alignment to your cause. * Can recruit and upgrade novices from nothing up to seasoned veterans like in Mount and Blade. * novices don't randomly appear, a single peasant must be produced by two adults. * therefore each novice has a family tree, which can be inspected. * novices can choose to be warriors or neutrals, with warriors eventually becoming leaders, and neutral novices becoming a variety of different things such as foragers, foresters, miners, entrepreneurs, scientists, programmers, mathematicians, craftsmen, defenders and engineers which all perform different tasks, and can form guilds. * novices loot from enemies they defeat, they can even loot from leaders they kill, they gain reputation for killing units. * novices that respect you will present you with very interesting items they find, others will refuse to trade-down. * disposition of a novice is usually based on parental skill/genetics. * neutral novices can travel with and fight as part of an army, but they are by default significantly weaker and far more timid in combat, neutral novices prefer to be housed within towns. * A single peasant will learn something, then this single peasant much teach other peasants and leaders to create skilled workers. * novices are extremely important, and time consuming to form bonds with, train and be produced. * Novices can evolve into leaders at any time, and can rebel against their parent armies. ARMY: * your units are as good as you make them, although you do not directly need to buy equipment, you must pay your units armament, and ensure there is a regular armament supply and repair. fees depend on the business that owns the services, they can raise or lower prices, they can also choose to relocate. You can eliminate these factors if you establish your own businesseses or guilds to perform these actions. * frustration from Total War comes from memorization of figures, in Simple War there are no figures at the beginning, the player learns these over time as they go. TOWNS * Towns can form or be reconstructed by Leaders alone, or by working together. * Castes can encompass a maximum of one town, however, Castes may ally with or subsidise other Castes, degrading them from Castes to Chapters, and a Chapter can claim a town as a home. * you can poison your own towns grain as a strategy if you know your city is going to fall to the enemy, or as a way to stop betrayal. * Guilds will naturally form in your town based on what your town is good at. Negative guilds can exist within your town, and you may locate and eradicate these. Some guilds can spread across the world. Guilds are a form of business, and can often do unique things, such as training mercenaries. * Entrepreneurs within towns establish their own businesses which export and import, businesses if they exist will automatically negotiate with other Entrepreneurs. They will open trade with other neutral or friendly towns, and will avoid unfriendly towns, towns must receive basic supplies, as well as trade goods and if access to items like food is restricted it can cause untold damage to your populace. * Having access to luxury food items or rare items can do positive things like increase influence and motivation of your workers. * Towns can defend exclusive right to nearby materials by constructing outposts, which are guarded by Cadres. * Civ style town placement, with mount and blade style walk-through upgrading taking multiple days for construction, buildings are similar to Black and White II's but with small RTS style improvements given other buildings also exist. * can unfound and purge towns. * the max size of a town is dependent on several factors, but a town will usually only produce new novices if there are residences, supplies and employment, this is a matter of seeing unemployment, starvation etc and finding a balance. * Towns may be influenced to integrate themselves into your own town, which is a quick and painless way to conquer cities. * Towns can be raided, in the case this happens, neutral novices will become Militia and will defend the town, alongside any Cadres within the town. They will take from a pool of pre-existing stored armaments, if these exist. * Towns may re-establish themselves after being eliminated by a Leader, this is if a number of previous residents, or influenced residents of other towns feel like the town once served a purpose such as it produced a resource. these towns become Merchant Cities and may provide benefits in exchange for coin. CASTES: * Caste traits are one of the main ways to change you and your units appearance and mechanics in ways that are sample-able but limited outside of major faction support. * You may conquer a Caste and gain access parts of their benefits, but full benefits can only be earned if defeated enemies are enslaved, and then teach your units. * When a city is reconstructed or constructed from nothing, a faction forms. When a faction forms you will get a cinematic. * The founding Leader becomes a Sage. * Sages can form new Chapters. * new Chapters will do what you ask of them, and can raise their own armies. * you can assign a special type of Leader; called a Commandant, that will manage your Garrison and automate town tasks for you. * Castes can become more unique over time, for instance a Caste may come across ancient precursor technology making them far stronger and have unique architecture and equipment, or may become immortal meaning their populace cannot die outside of combat. * a Caste could discover the ability to manufacture Droids, meaning they can manufacture soldiers. * a Caste could gain the ability to talk to wildlife, and form an alliance (such as control caves that can randomly produce allied units) * most Castes will only ever achieve one of these things, and which is mostly dependent upon map placement. * Castes can rise and fall literally overnight. MECHANICS * purposefully hide information from players they really don't require to see. * no sprawling tech trees or bullshit abilities like percentage increases. * at max an army will be composed of around 80 soldiers, however this will be less. * the game favors speed over graphical intensity or clutter. * unlike a traditional stategy game of this type, the game works in real time and the game doesn't pause unless deliberately paused, there is plenty of downtime. * the player doesn't constantly see everything other players are doing and don't need to watch them make their moves. * the player doesn't need to immediately become a lord, or ever, they can play the game as a novice warrior or neutral in another leaders army and can even win the game like this. players may also form guilds and businesses. * nothing is dumb, everything will automate and regulate themselves if you provide things you're supposed to provide on time, the only people that will ask for your advice are your lords and vassals. Diplomacy * when doing diplomatic trades and agreements with other leaders, other leaders can demand things like the sword of your most famous troop. although an easy trade will damage your relationship with that troop and he may revolt and may take some men with him. NPCs * you can ally with neutral npcs that appear randomly on maps, such as a group of farmers if you save them, can do quests to convert neutrals permanently to your own side. * some npcs may have some hidden interactions with the map itself. such as when approaching an area, will recall it from their memory and tell the player about what transpired there. * you can take workers from your enemies, as well as getting a worker, they can build your enemies buildings and therefore units.